Sarasota mansion teardown part of a trend?

Sunday

Sep 22, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Experts say Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik's decision to knock down a $4.25 million home on St. Armands likely an isolated incident.

By HAROLD BUBIL

Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik's decision to raze a perfectly livable — and relatively new — St. Armands Key mansion may have set Southwest Florida real estate watchers abuzz, but the demolition won't be the opening salvo of a new trend involving upscale homes, local professionals say.

More likely, analysts say, Vinik's motive for razing the 6,100-square-foot mansion, completed in 2001, was that he treasured the waterfront site and simply has the financial means to scrape the site and rebuild.

Jeff and Penny Vinik paid $4.25 million for the home they are now turning to rubble, and neighbors say the couple intend to build a three-story house on the site, at 112 N. Washington Drive.

"My first inclination is to say it is definitely an isolated incident," said Roger Pettingell, a top-selling agent with Coldwell Banker Previews.

For his part, Vinik isn't talking. A Lightning spokesman said the team owner does not comment on personal matters.

Tearing down a house to develop a larger one — even a stately one costing millions of dollars — is hardly new in Southwest Florida. With the market's recovery, too, the phenomenon is becoming even more prevalent.

And while most teardowns involve older homes in prime spots — Pettingell said demolitions in tony Longboat Key's Country Club Shores, for example, are priced at lot value — more than a few have brought down newer structures.

In Regent Court on Longboat Key, a 7,900-square-foot house was torn down to the pilings recently and is being replaced by a new mansion. The property previously was worth $7 million or more, but a 2007 transfer between two corporations — a Swiss couple controlled the selling entity — was recorded at $100 by the Sarasota County Clerk of Court.

The existing house had a pair of big problems, according to Sarasota County Property Appraiser data. At 18 years old, it was worth only $2.4 million on Jan. 1 of this year, while its land was valued at $3.5 million. When land is worth more than improvements made on it, the house becomes at risk, especially for high-end properties, said real estate appraiser Don Saba.

But the transaction that perhaps mimics the Viniks the most occurred a decade ago.

Though their home was only about a dozen years old at the time, the Coxes gutted and rebuilt the residence, down to the concrete flooring, stopping just short of a total demolition.

"I can see it happening, because if the house is not to the latest code, you might have to put $500,000 or a $1 million into it, and it still isn't what you want," said Michael Saunders Realtor Ellen Wells of demolishing or completely gutting a newer residence.

"Still a good value ..."

Pettingell and others note that larger trends — including a lack of available inventory among pricier, waterfront houses in areas like St. Armands — also could make the Vinik demo more commonplace in the coming months.

"Certainly the market has gotten to a position where the inventory is much, much tighter," Pettingell said. "One of the offshoots is that people are more likely to tear houses down for their lots.

"It also speaks to the strength of the market. It comes down to location, location, location," he said. "The new house will be half the price of Naples. It is still a good value and he wants what he wants."

Jesse White, of Sarasota Architectural Salvage, agrees that demolitions are becoming more prevalent now that the residential market has heated back up.

"There is a lot of demolition happening — more than in the past five years," White said.

But Pettingell stops short of believing that the teardowns of newer homes will skew the market.

"I don't think people are going to pay for the value of a lot if there is a good usable house on it."

Many factors in decision to raze

Early speculation following the Viniks' April purchase — even among their real estate agent on the deal, Saunders' Kathleen Callender — was that the couple would extensively remodel the North Washington Drive property.

But Pettingell said he has had clients shy away from renovation because they considered it "too overwhelming."

Remodeling contractor John King of Rampart Homes speculated that the "placement of the house on the lot" may have led to the Vinik's decision to raze it.

It is not likely the decision was forced on them, King said, noting that Federal Emergency Management Agency flood-zone elevation requirements are the same today as they were in 2001.

But more likely, he believes, the Viniks are rebuilding because they can.

"What may be a big-dollar amount to you or I may not be a big-dollar amount to someone else," said King, noting that a recent client spent $350,000 to remodel a house in the Country Club section of Lakewood Ranch.

"The trend is to location more than anything," he said.

Pettengell agrees.

"It may be a different logic for me or you," he said. "Maybe it was not a great investment, but (the Viniks) probably fell in love with the Circle and wanted what they wanted, so why shouldn't they have it?

"He is a smart guy who believes in the market and is willing to put his money in St. Armands to get the house he wants."